


never heard a silence quite this loud

by katebishoop



Series: the red paladin [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Episode Tag, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 18:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7518254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katebishoop/pseuds/katebishoop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare….</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Keith thought he knew what being alone felt like. An orphan in a little shack out in the desert. But space was different. Space was a vast, never-ending emptiness. A screaming silence. Keith had never realized before how the sound of his own breathing felt claustrophobic. How could the <i>free</i> feeling of floating feel so <i>oppressive</i>?</p>
            </blockquote>





	never heard a silence quite this loud

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after 1x01 "The Rise of Voltron."

_He kept trying to run but it was pointless; no matter what he did he stayed in place. He was just floating, drifting. Trapped in a cage with no bars, in a cage of his own body, in a cage that he could never escape. There was just darkness, pure blackness. The stars - the little lights at the end of the tunnel - were just getting farther and farther away-_

_And then there was nothing. The Red Lion wasn’t coming - no one was coming - he was completely alone. He was alone,_ again _, trapped-_

 _And then, he was_ falling-

Keith’s eyes snapped open, a gasp escaping bursting from his lips. Then panic, sheer, utter panic. He couldn’t move. _He couldn’t move. Why couldn’t he move?_ Everything was spinning and his heart was about to beat out of his chest and-

He jolted upright, scrambling to sit up. He panted, scratchy shallow breaths-

_It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a dream..._

He glanced over at the time projected on the wall. The time on Earth was three-thirty in the morning.

Keith focused on the seconds that ticked by. Forty-three; forty-four; forty-five. His breaths became longer, more even. Fifty; fifty-one; fifty-two. He slumped back against the wall. Fifty-eight; fifty-nine; zero.

_It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare…._

Keith thought he knew what being alone felt like. An orphan in a little shack out in the desert. But space was different. Space was a vast, never-ending emptiness. A screaming silence. Keith had never realized before how the sound of his own breathing felt claustrophobic. How could the _free_ feeling of floating feel so _oppressive_?

More often that not, back out in the desert, Keith wouldn’t be able to sleep through the night. The ratty old couch he slept on was complete shit for his back - but he had had dealt with worse before. Sometimes the silence was just too loud, and it would wake him up.

Like now.

Keith rubbed a hand over his face, and it came back wet with sweat. Nightmares were a regularity too, but - he had had _that_ nightmare so often it was numb. This was fresh, an open wound still throbbing.

When the silence woke him up back in the desert, he’d go over and sit on the cliff’s edge - knees to his chest. Or he would lie back against the dusty earth, his legs dangling over the side. Either way, his eyes would be on the stars. He always felt small looking up at them - now he’s feeling miniscule, microscopic, like he’s physically shrinking, his ribs closing in and crushing his lungs and _he can’t breathe-_

Keith tossed the sweat-soaked sheets back and pushed himself off his bed. He needed some fresh air, and it wasn’t until he was all the way down the hall that he remembered he _couldn’t_ get fresh air. He was on a spaceship - a flying _castle_ \- billions of miles away from ho-

He hadn’t really had a destination in mind, but the bridge would _not_ have been his first choice. He flinched at his first glimpse out of the large windows. The stuff of his nightmares right in front of him - only the juxtaposition of the sterile white ship reminded him that _: he’s safe, there’s glass, he’s awake._

“Eerie, isn’t it?”

Keith jumped and turned around, ready for a fight-

“Hey, easy,” Shiro said. _Shiro_. It was just Shiro. Shiro was a friend. Shiro was safe. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You- you didn’t scare me,” Keith stuttered out. Shiro raised an eyebrow at him, and Keith rushed, defensive, to change the subject. “What are you doing here?”

Shiro shrugged and turned back to look out the windows. “I have trouble sleeping - nightmares about my time in Zarkon’s prison... But I like to come out here and look out at the stars. Despite… despite how empty it is, it reminds me that I’m not alone. That there’s something out in all that nothingness, staring back.”

_But what’s the point if you can’t get to that something? If life is out of reach?_

“What about you?”

Keith’s gaze snapped back to Shiro after having drifted to look out at the stars. “Oh, um-” He wasn’t used to people asking: _how are you? are you okay?_ Or just any form of concern, really. It was as foreign as this ship they were in. “Yeah. It’s nothing. Just couldn’t sleep. This place is - uh-unfamiliar, or whatever.”

Shiro shifted on his feet. The look in his eye told Keith that Shiro could see right through him. But Shiro doesn’t pry. He knows, but he doesn't pry.

“Well, we should both try and get some more sleep. We have training bright and early tomorrow-” Shiro glanced down at his watch. “Later today, actually.” He let out a small chuckle, which Keith tried to match, but it just came out nervous, awkward.

Keith looked down at bare feet. He could see the reflection of space in the shiny white floor. No matter where he turned, it followed him like a shadow.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up.

“If there’s anything you want to talk about,” Shiro said, “come to me whenever you’re ready. I’m here for you Keith, we all are.”

Keith didn’t know what to say - so he just nodded. Shiro gave a small nod and equally small smile back before heading out the doors, leaving Keith alone.

But no - he wasn’t really alone, was he?

He took one last glance out at the stars. No matter how far you traveled, there would always be more out in front of you. A constant light in the darkness.

And there were six lights - six people - on this ship that would be there for him if he ever needed them. Whenever he was ready.

He wasn’t ready yet - he’d been alone for too long to even know how to begin. But soon, maybe.

Maybe soon, he’d be ready.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are always much appreciated :D
> 
> prompts are open over on [](http://bellakeyblake.tumblr.com>tumblr</a>!)


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